"The
year 2003 will be remembered as the time when
Democrats decided to fight back against George
W. Bush after coddling and even embracing him
in 2002. This whiplash will mean some surprising
things for 2004."

"On
Christmas Eve, a story and column in the Washington
Post caught the eye. For they tell much about
the two Americas we are becoming under George
Bush and a Democratic Party that has cut its roots
to working America."

"Yet
Bush remains quite popular by historical standards.
Moreover, the task that lies ahead for any Democrat
is a daunting one, for a more fundamental reason
than what Americans think about Bush's job performance."

"For
the good of the primary goal of beating Bush in
2004 we are asking all of you to stop this incessant
grousing over the candidates with purpose of undermining
the ones you don't like. We also ask the candidates
themselves to stop cannibalizing one another."

"Mr.
Ridge was the principal source of network entertainment
as he announced that he was raising the "terror
alert" in America from "yellow" to "orange." The
upcoming holidays might, he supposed, provide
an opportunity for some ill-defined group to attack
some possible targets someplace in the homeland
he imagines it his province to protect."

"It
sounds confusing as all get-out. Medicare will
pay 75% after $250 has been spent, up to $2,250.
After that, there's a "window" in the coverage
that extends all the way to $5,100. Patient pays
100%. Then Medicare kicks back in, paying 95%
of costs over $5,100. Until the end of the year.
Then you get to start over."

"Dean's
doing the right thing. By sticking to his guns,
the leading Democratic presidential contender
again separates himself from the pack by correctly
stating the significance of the capture of Saddam
Hussein."

"The
capture of Saddam Hussein will not be the keystone
for peace in that volatile region. This day's
news does not lessen the danger that the Bush
doctrine of pre-emptive strike poses to international
peace and stability."

"Today
is the EPA's deadline to announce its plan for
regulating mercury from coal-burning power plants.
A leaked draft indicates it will downgrade mercury
as a toxin while weakening efforts to clean up
mercury emissions."

"Saddam
Hussein, former employee of the American federal
government, was captured near a farmhouse in Tikrit
in a raid performed by other employees of the
American federal government. That sounds pretty
deranged, right? Perhaps, but it is also accurate."

"But
all those hopes of a collapse of resistance are
doomed. Saddam was neither the spiritual nor the
political guide to the insurgency that is now
claiming so many lives in Iraq - far more Iraqi
than Western lives, one might add - and, however
happy Messrs Bush and Blair may be at the capture
of Saddam, the war goes on."

"The
seizure and public display of Saddam Hussein may
be a propaganda victory for imperialism, but it
changes nothing fundamental about the situation
in Iraq, particularly the reality that the U.S.
invasion and occupation of Iraq constitute a blatant
and brutal violation of both international and
U.S. law."

"The
Iraqi dictator then went on to list the "hits"
he conducted on behalf of the Baker-Bush administrations,
ending with the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, authorized
by the former US secretary of state Baker."

"The
goal of these interlocutors is to dismiss any
harsh critique of Bush as nothing more than angry-left
name-calling. I obviously believe Bush has lied
often and consistently about grave matters, but
I have shied away from labeling Bush "pathological"
and the like. Now I wonder about that."

"A
SENIOR White House official was asked in a briefing
this week if President Bush will ever directly
address the Iraqi people about the deaths of Iraqi
civilians in the US occupation. Instead of addressing
Bush's responsibility, the official delivered
a spiraling rendition of denial."

"I
can't tell whether this administration is flaunting
its cynicism, its contempt for science or its
conviction that when in power you help your contributors
and fry your enemies. Although how millions of
small children and unborn fetuses came to be enemies
of Bush & Co. is beyond my political or theological
understanding."

"The
brutal essence of the Bushist Era was thus laid
bare last week in the unlikely venue of the Army
Times, a corporate-owned military newspaper in
Washington. In an article detailing the effectiveness
of a new kind of ammunition, the paper -- inadvertently,
we assume -- stripped away the patriotic tinfoil
wrapped around the arms industry and revealed
that "patriotism" for what it really is: extortion,
crude and thuggish, a raw greed driven by threats
-- including the threat of turning their death-wares
against the Americans they are purporting to defend."

"Ever
since the invasion of Iraq, Karl Rove has been
traveling the country mobilizing the evangelical
vote for the 2004 elections. In city after city,
he is meeting with evangelical leaders. He begs:
'in 2000, only 16 million of you voted. We need
the other four million.'"

"Human
greed, injustice and folly have almost ruined
our planet. The most powerful institutions (global
corporations and rich governments) have usually
put financial profit first. The biggest profits
are in making weapons of war. The resulting violence
and injustice has been disastrous."

"It
is a status that is not currently based on journalistic
excellence. Today, The New York Times is just
another of the media courtesans that promotes
the financial interests of its parent company
by servicing the Republican Party."

"All
year the elves at his law firm, Baker Botts of
Texas, have been working day and night to prevent
the families of the victims of the September 11
attack from seeking information from Saudi Arabia
on the Kingdom's funding of Al Qaeda fronts."

"Five
minutes into a tough-talking stem-winder that
had Florida's Democrats at their state convention
here wildly cheering and waving their signs, U.S.
Sen. John F. Kerry was suddenly recapturing the
coveted mantle of leadership from hard-charging
former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean."

"Tuesday,
the Bush administration announced its interest
in mercury emissions, one day before President
Bush asserted that "we all share duties of stewardship."
The administration's alternative, a cap-and-trade
system that was requested by the industry, would
allow power plants to buy and sell the right to
emit mercury."

"The
report on FBI surveillance activities, regarding
anti-war rallies in Washington and San Francisco
(first, reported by The New York Times), surprises
few anti-war activists, especially free speech
supporters who knew Ashcroft's drafting of the
Patriot Act would be most effective in possible
protest intimidation."

"In
the most famous picture from his trip to Baghdad,
President Bush had himself artfully photographed
to look like he was serving turkey to the troops.
The image was emblazoned on front pages throughout
the country - and now appears to be an entirely
false depiction."

"Democrats
and a legal watchdog group have asked Attorney
General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) to investigate
allegations that Republicans offered a House member
$100,000 in contributions for his son's election
campaign if he would vote for a Medicare prescription
drug benefit passed by Congress last month."

"In
our new, more enlightened age, we humbly accept
-- even celebrate -- the special privileges accorded
to the great ones among us. And so, with a couple
of honorable exceptions, the big-time American
media lay a nice soft comfy quilt of silence over
last month's revelations about presidential brother
Neil Bush -- details which emerged from the nasty
divorce suit Neil brought upon himself by his
flagrant adultery with a close family friend."

"Widow's
Bush Treason Suit Vanishes in Blink of Media Eye"
- Grieving New Hampshire widow who lost her man
on 9/11 refuses the government's million dollar
hush money payoff, studies the facts of the day
for nearly two years, and comes to believe the
White House "intentionally allowed 9/11 to happen"
to launch a so-called "War on Terrorism" for personal
and political gain.
"A Journalist's Call to Action"
- jounalist John Buchanan's investigation of the
Bush family Nazi connections
"Dear media" - woman who supposedly
committed suicide after claiming Bush abused her
sexually.

"But
then you turn to your neighbors and friends, and
they say it still feels like a recession. Part
of this disconnect is because most people get
their income from the labor market, not the stock
market."

"The
revelation that, at the age of 21, Democratic
presidential candidate Howard Dean in the late
'60s, purposely received a medical deferment for
his back in 1970, should surprise few voters who
shared the same sympathies a growing of Americans
had about avoiding the conflict in Vietnam."

"Their
chants were disturbing, but this is war. They
have to psyche themselves up for the kill. They
have to believe that flying off to some tiny,
remote desert town in Iraq where they will march
in front of someone's house and kill poor young
Iraqis has some greater meaning besides cold-blooded
murder."

"Please
help a working journalist, armed with truth and
the facts, take back our country from the big
corporations and war profiteers and return the
"neo-con" Party of Halliburton to the Party of
Lincoln."

"The
trip was announced several hours after Putsch
was safely out of Iraq. It might have been quite
the public relations coup, like the one Clinton
scored when he went to Kosovo, or what Eisenhower
did when he went to Korea. But as soon as details
of the secrecy of the trip got out, a startled
public turned disdainful."

"I
like the timing, too -- they slipped that Medicare
deform bill through just in time for the drug
companies, the insurance companies and the HMOs
to give loud hosannas around their Thanksgiving
tables."

"Smith,
self term-limited, is leaving Congress. His lawyer
son Brad is one of five Republicans seeking to
replace him from a GOP district in Michigan's
southern tier. On the House floor, Nick Smith
was told business interests would give his son
$100,000 in return for his father's vote. When
he still declined, fellow Republican House members
told him they would make sure Brad Smith never
came to Congress. After Nick Smith voted no and
the bill passed, Duke Cunningham of California
and other Republicans taunted him that his son
was dead meat."

"Despite
the heroic efforts of many members of both the
House and Senate - both Democrat and Republican
- Congressional leadership and the White House
used tricky tactics and trickier legislation to
create the illusion of a partial FCC rollback
while serving up yet another give away to Big
Media."

"So,
George W. Bush took a secret trip to Baghdad for
a Thanksgiving dinner - excuse me while I yawn.
What exactly was the purpose of spending two hours
in Baghdad, at a cost which we will probably never
be told?"

"George
W and his regime of warmongering chicken hawks
are constantly doing political photo-ops with
our soldiers and piously admonishing everyone
to "support the troops." But you might ask Lt.
Col. Dale Starr, Col. David Everly, Col. Clifford
Acree, and several other soldiers about how the
Bushites themselves support our troops."

"Republican
Senator John McCain of Arizona, one of the few
conservatives to stick to his principles in opposition
to the creation of a major new entitlement program,
added that the subsidies to "special interests"
like insurance and drug companies stand in stark
contrast to the absence of any means of keeping
costs from skyrocketing."

"Leaders
of the Cuban exile community of Miami clearly
out-Castro-ed their former nemesis this week as
Dade County tactical squads, under the leadership
of elected Cuban-American politicians, brutally
suppressed citizens' Constitutional rights--to
free speech, freedom of the press and free assembly--with
an abandon and verve that would have had even
Fidel himself open-mouthed."

"Police
have attacked protestors with tear gas, pepper
spray, concussion grenades, stun guns and by shooting
activists with rubber bullets. Medics have not
been allowed in through the police lines to treat
the injured."

"Shortly
before the disastrous Bush visit to Britain, Tony
Blair was at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday.
It was an unusual glimpse of a state killer whose
effete respectability has gone. His perfunctory
nod to "the glorious dead" came from a face bleak
with guilt."

"On
September 17, I became the first journalist in
U.S. history to independently confirm and report
in a reputable newspaper -- The New Hampshire
Gazette, founded in 1756 and the oldest paper
in America -- the Nazi past of the Bush family,
via its 27-year business relationship with Nazi
industrialist Fritz Thyssen from 1924 until 1951.
Both Prescott Bush, the grandfather of George
W. Bush, and George Herbert Walker, his maternal
great-grandfather, were part of the partnership,
under the banner of the private bank Brown Brothers
Harriman."

"At
the same time, there are ways that governments
concede that "mistakes were made." One way is
the pullout, such as is being discussed with regard
to Iraq. Sectors of the Bush administration are
hinting that it could come sooner rather than
later, even as the neocons howl and wail that
success is only a nuclear bomb away."

"Coming
after a third round of goodies last spring and
an autumn crammed with corporate scams (from the
oil and gas boys to health insurance companies),
the next round is designed to slip through the
back door a virtual exclusion of investment income
from taxation."

"Make
no mistake about it: the administration's about-face
on Iraq, declaring that they would have a full
administrative pullout by next June and a military
pullout by 2006, represents a clear defeat, and
a humiliation for the administration."

"The
Tell Us the Truth Tour has set the sentiments
of millions of angry Americans to music, and taken
the show on the road. Traveling by bus across
the eastern United States on a tour that began
November 7 in Madison, Wisconsin and will finish
November 24 in Washington, some of the most innovative
artists in American music -- and a comrade from
Britain -- are raising a ruckus about the Bush
administration's push for greater media consolidation
and for international economic policies that are
devastating the economies of both the U.S. and
its trading partners."

"To
beat Bush in 2004 we cannot afford to have Ralph
Nader running again for President regardless of
how we might feel about him otherwise. Or any
other third party candidate who would draw votes
away from the Democratic nominee."

"When
I started hearing about weapons of mass destruction
that threatened the United States from Iraq, a
shattered country that had endured almost a decade
of trench war followed by an invasion and twelve
years of sanctions, my first question was how
in the hell can anyone believe that this suffering
country presents a threat to the United States?
But then I remembered how many people had believed
Vietnam threatened the United States. Including
me."

"One
hopes that in this hastily called review, the
situation and outlook for Iraq would be looked
at squarely. Up to this point, the chances for
that occurring, however, have appeared slim, because
the administration, and by extension Bremer's
team in country, has appeared fixated on carrying
out the Bush scheme for transforming Iraq into
an American style democracy."

"In
these days of hidebound militarism and round-robin
carnage, when even that beloved ambassador of
peace, the Dalai Lama, says it may be necessary
to counter terrorism with violence, it's fair
to ask: Is humanity doomed? Are we born for the
battlefield - congenitally, hormonally incapable
of putting war behind us? Is there no alternative
to the bullet-riddled trapdoor, short of mass
sedation or a Marshall Plan for our DNA?"

"Thank
you for joining the Iraqi resistance forces. You
have been issued an AK-47 rifle, rocket-propelled
grenade launcher and an address where you can
pick up supplies of bombs and remote-controlled
mines. Please let your cell leader know if you
require additional materiel for use against the
Americans."

"President
Bush has never been an advocate of the First Amendment.
Even when he was governor of Texas, he prohibited
demonstrations on the walkways in front of the
governor's mansion, an area which had traditionally
been used for peaceful protests."

"Almost
certainly, a court will rule the "Terri Law" unconstitutional
and reinstate the original decision to remove
the feeding tube from the carcass. If they don't,
then America will be just as dead as Terri is,
and just as unlikely to ever come back."

"The
purpose of this column is to attempt to unite
many large progressive websites concerned with
this issue to do something about it before the
2004 election. It would be a real tragedy if Bush
won again without actually winning or getting
a plurality of the votes. But it could happen
if even more states buy touchscreen voting machines
that don't leave a verifiable paper trail."

"But
modern Americans have been abandoning the voting
booth in droves. Over the past fifty years, less
than half of all eligible voters went to the polls,
sometimes less than 25%. However, far more astounding
is that those who voted rarely bothered to wonder
if their vote was counted accurately."

"Since
the end of the Vietnam War, presidents have worried
that their military actions would lose support
once the public glimpsed the remains of U.S. soldiers
arriving at air bases in flag-draped caskets.

To
this problem, the Bush administration has found
a simple solution: It has ended the public dissemination
of such images by banning news coverage and photography
of dead soldiers' homecomings on all military
bases."

"Last
week, 500 identical letters-to-the-editor were
received by hometown newspapers across the United
States, all from LTC Caraccilo's unit, but signed
by dozens of his troops, some with apparently
forged signatures from troops who were unaware
of the letter at all."

"The
far right has hijacked the Republican Party and
poses the greatest danger to our nation in decades.
Desperate to further their own agenda, the far
right abuses power and does not play by the rules
or follow the U.S. Constitution. They decide what
they want to do and then pursue a win-at-any-cost
strategy to achieve it."

"What
is passing under the radar regarding the war in
Iraq is the staggering number of casualties that
occur on a daily basis. According to an article
published in The
New Republic (10-2-03) by editor, Lawrence
F. Kaplan, almost every night giant C-17 transport
jets loaded with wounded Americans land at Andrews
Air Force Base in Washington."